Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 242 PM EST Sun Jan 17 2021 Valid 00Z Mon Jan 18 2021 - 00Z Wed Jan 20 2021 ...High Wind Watches are posted across a large portion of California beginning late Sunday and continuing into Tuesday... ...Periods of snow expected from parts of the Midwest into the Central and Southern Appalachians... ...Lake effect snows to continue, with locally heavy amounts possible east of Erie... ...Heavy snow expected over the Southern Rockies of Colorado and New Mexico Monday night into Tuesday... Upper-level energy over the Midwest will aid in producing light snow over parts of the area through Monday morning. Upper-level energy will also help create lake effect snow downwind from Lake Erie that will be heavy through Tuesday evening with locally as much as twelve to eighteen inches of snow accumulation. Additionally, a front over the Upper Mississippi Valley will advance eastward across the Great Lakes to the Mid-Atlantic by Tuesday evening. The system will produce light snow over the Great Lakes/Ohio Valley on Monday into Tuesday. Meanwhile, strong northerly and easterly winds are expected to develop across Northern California into Central California and continue into Tuesday. Downed trees and power lines, as well as difficult driving conditions, can be expected -- prompting widespread High Wind Watches and Wind Advisories across the region. By late Monday, damaging winds are forecast to develop farther to the south across portions of Southern California as well. Furthermore, a front over the Northern Intermountain Region into the Northern High Plains will move south and eastward to the Ohio Valley to the Southern Plains into parts of the Southwest by Tuesday. The system will produce snow over parts of the Northern Rockies to the Northern High Plains by Monday morning that will expand into parts of the Northern Plains through the day Monday. As the system moves southward, snow will develop over parts of the Central/Southern Rockies on Tuesday morning into Tuesday evening, with significant accumulations possible over the Rockies of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Also overnight Monday, the associated front will intersect moisture over the Southern Plains/Lower Mississippi Valley, producing rain along the boundary over parts of the Southern Plains, Lower Mississippi Valley, and Tennessee Valley into Tuesday evening. Ziegenfelder Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_ndfd.php